Reel Life | First week of winter

On the local scene, one angler reported a kilogram-plus redfin and a dozen, plate-sized redfin when fishing Waranga Basin. His big redfin was around the water pumps in the Harriman Point area.

All redfin had one thing in common, the same deep-diving lure, mainly showing a flash of white, and all bouncing along the bottom.

Conditions on the basin started out with rough water, but this settled to dead calm after an hour or so, making the fish more comfortable.

It was the same at Eildon. The redfin were about the tree line and around five to six metres. If no bites within 10 to 15 minutes, move to another tree until the fish are located.

By far the most productive water for redfin is the Hume Weir, as has been the case for some years. Fish the tree lines and look for seagulls. They will be diving on schools of bait fish being driven to the surface by fish feeding on them.

Lake Nillahcootie used to be a haven for redfin, but since the floods of the early 1990s, redfin have all but gone. Now yellowbelly and cod are the major fish in that location.

Redfin are not native, but have shown an ability to acclimatise to our conditions and have become one of the dominant fish in our region.

However, a virus in the late ’90s managed to reduce their dominance to where it is today.

Back when I was younger, well a lot younger, the first fish I hooked and landed — more on that later — was a redfin.

It was a few hundred metres upstream from Dights Falls on the Yarra River, near Collingwood.

I was fishing with my dad and my big brother. I had a worm suspended under a float when said redfin pulled the float under. I struck with enough strength to send the float and fish back over my shoulder and it landed six feet behind me, on the bank.

Funny how some things stick in your mind — I have tempered my skills a lot since those days!

My first trout was also in the Yarra, about 200 yards downstream from said falls a few months later.

With the urging from my dad, those two fish set me on a path to become an ardent angler. While I may not be an expert, I am ardent.

Speaking of trout, now is the time to fish for trout at Eildon, Dartmouth and to a lesser extent, the Waranga Basin — and, of course, Lake Hume.

Some big fish can be caught at Eildon and the Hume; however, the trout at Dartmouth are seldom over one or two kilograms.

Trout are introduced species — brown trout from England, and rainbow trout from North America.

There is one introduced fish that has not been received with any regard, and that is the European carp, which has taken over waterways to the detriment of much-preferred native fish and other, more desirable fish.

However, predation by cod seems to have reduced their numbers.

The reports from the Goulburn and Murray rivers this week have been mixed. The majority of cod being caught have been undersize, with only a handful being legal or a keeper.

Most fish were caught by anglers using bait such as yabbies, worms, cheese and chicken. Only a few were caught using lures, spinner baits and hard body lures, mainly using a frog pattern in the Goulburn and a mixture of fluoro colours in the Murray and Lake Mulwala.

Cod were also caught in the river arms of Lake Eildon, and also in Nillahcootie near Benalla.

Both Broken River and Broken Creek were also worth a try for cod, the river between Benalla and Shepparton and the creek between Nathalia and the Murray. Bait and lure fishing, and also popper or surface lures, had success.

To saltwater fishing, and Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters at Queenscliff said the fishing had been good to average due to the weather.

When he could go off shore, it was good, with tuna out wide. Rod reported good gummy shark numbers on the dive wrecks; he said they were taking fresh fillets of salmon.

Rod said he was also catching late-season snapper and other mixed reef fish while inside the heads.

He was catching trevally, salmon and an occasional whiting or flathead.

It was a similar story around Western Port Bay. Rod said fishing the edge of the shipping lanes off Hastings was worth a try on a good day, and also in the deep around Phillip Island and San Remo.

Further north at Eden, John Liddell reported inshore reef fishing resulted in snapper and morwong, as well as flathead, leatherjacket, gurnard and other table fish.

Around Green Cape, some good-sized gummy shark could be caught using fresh fish fillets as bait out in the deep.

Metre-long flathead were not uncommon, as well as ocean snapper, as they are sometimes called.

At Narooma, Graham Cowley said they too were getting good bags of flathead and snapper.

Around Montague Island they were bagging kingfish, while off the shelf, there were tuna to keep game anglers occupied.

Well, this is the first weekend of winter and you should keep rugged up. Keep safe and healthy, and good luck on the water.